oh. this is g.w. news live from berlin and stay at home over the easter weekend that's the message from germany's president in a rare televised address that friend falter shimei or calls on germans to show solidarity and let the crisis in bring out the best in society also coming up. the united states overtakes italy to become the country with the highest death toll from the coronavirus endemic public health experts say the u.s. could see hundreds of thousands of deaths if lockdowns are relaxed after a month. with no official restrictions in place to go rodman's are being urged to

celebrate easter as usual but president daniela watched a guy is accused of risking went up a democrat in central america. i'm claire richards and welcome to the show we begin here in germany where the federal president has urged the german people to show solidarity during the coronavirus pandemic in a rare televised address frank valter steinmeyer asked the germans to do their part by staying at home over the long easter weekend his speech also looks beyond germany so the global response to the pandemic and i'm well we surged worldwide for a joint 20 ounce of the crisis almost and will we fall back into isolation and you know naturalism. tile and view the letters pool all of our knowledge and all of our research so that we can find vaccines and treatments more quickly. and less ensure

within the global alliance that the poorest and most vulnerable countries also have access. to the ninety's and know this pandemic is not a war. do not stand against other nations soldiers against soldiers rather this is a test of our humanity. it is bringing out both the best and the worst in people so let us show each other the best in us. and let us show that in europe as well. germany cannot emerge strong and fit from this crisis if our neighbors are not strong and fit as well. it is not without reason that this blue flag is standing here 30 years after german unity 75 years after the end of the war we germans are not merely asked to show solidarity we are obliged to do so isn't it

so for listed well for more i'm joined by d.w. political correspondent hans brandt urging solidarity from germany to other european countries do we know in concrete terms what mr steinmeier means by that. well i think you can interpret his reference to the war rhetoric rejecting the war rhetoric as a kind of criticism of donald trump in the united states of other european leaders such as the french president a man with a core who has been using this kind of bellicose language. is also responding to the fact that here in europe the 1st response to the corona crisis was a very nationalistic one a nationalistic impulse borders were closed the export of medical equipment was prohibited here in germany as well and he sees that as the wrong way of dealing with this crisis he's calling for concrete solidarity for instance there are hundreds of patients from italy and france covered 9000 patients being treated in

germany but he's also i think referring to a much higher level in this discussion within the european union as a very acrimonious debate going on about how the rebuilding of the yukon and me in europe can be financed and germany as the richest country in europe is very much in the focus of this discussion and there to sign my i think is calling for solidarity but chancellor angela merkel has addressed the public several times on this topic and she is the one with the power to make decisions why is president steinmeyer choosing to give best interest now. yes indeed it is a very rare occasion it's hardly happened ever before partly it has to do with the function that the president has and german society his function basically is to talk to talk to people to talk to themselves to the society to meet people to shake hands as it were all of that is not possible now and corona times and i think there's also a sense of a bit of a religious impulse playing

a role here steinmeier is a practicing christian and i think is appealing to other christians that under these circumstances there cannot meet in their congregations that have to stay at within the easter holidays in the east. weekend a lot of people would like to go outside to meet the spring as it were to enjoy the springtime and he's calling for discipline for people to remain inside that's right we had my urging the public to show solidarity and play their part by staying home so how are germans coping with this crisis and. i think one has to say these things have been going pretty well in germany so far the social distancing has worked well even though the restrictions here in germany are not as strong as severe as they are in other countries in europe one is allowed to go out on the streets in pairs of 2 people and people have been sticking to that but everyone has been saying the proof comes this weekend comes these easter holidays if people stick to these rules

now then there is a chance of things being relaxed within the foreseeable future. political correspondent thank you for that. the united states has overtaken italy to become the country with the highest death toll from the corona virus pandemic a tally by johns hopkins university shows the us with more than 20000 deaths chicago and other cities across the midwest are bracing for a potential surge in victims public health experts have warned that the number of u.s. deaths could surged to $200000.00 if the current lockdown in most states is lifted after one month. well the w.'s correspondent all over salad is in washington d.c. all over the u.s. has more deaths from cove in 19 than any other country around 2000 people have died within 24 hours why is that. well if you were to ask president trump

clearer than he will tell you that this is in part because of the china was not honest about the development of the pandemic in their in their own country in the 1st place and then he also blames the world health organization for not declaring the corona virus. pandemic early enough but of course trump himself gets a big share of the criticism for not taking the threat seriously enough he in the beginning i'm sure you remember the sound bites he gave over and over again said it would go away is just like a fool all of that and of course you have the election in mind you know about the impact of his words on the stock market on the economy and therefore is scared simply that he would lose his reelection effort now that has changed his attitude towards the why of the virus he's now giving this his famous now daily press briefings but then again he's challenging his experience there they want to keep the country shut he wants to open it up as soon as possible they urge the americans

to wear face masks he says i don't see myself wearing wearing one so people might think that it can't be that bad if the president acts like that and also the late response of the government of the president is what got the country where it stands right now and you are in the nation's capital washington d.c. what is the situation like now. well as in many parts of the united states there's a stay in place order issued here and it's fairly ok i would say as of now all of the numbers of confirmed cases is relatively low with 1800 confirmed and 50 casualties but that might change very quickly because experts believe that the epi center is going to move cells from new york city to other places like baltimore philadelphia and unfortunately also to washington d.c. so d.c. hospitals are right now bracing preparing for for a big surge in cases and casualties let's talk about that epicenter in new york

city we know schools there have been closed how are students and their parents coping well it's a challenge for everyone clear of most of the people who experience this for the 1st time in their lives and it means students have to work from home parents have to roll in home schooling them and at the same time they have to tell work from home so it's it's a struggle of course because they can't rely on any help like nannies for instance because of the social distancing rules in place and in addition to that social activities are canceled so it's a struggle and a challenge for students and families alike on a very silent in washington d.c. thank you very much. and in an effort to slow the spread of coven 19 in turkey the government has imposed a lockdown at for some 31 cities across the country the measure came into effect on friday night at midnight and as expected to remain in place for 48 hours the quick

implementation of the shutdown took many by surprise and caused confusion in many cities including uncorrect and istanbul. taksim square at the heart of istanbul completely deserted it's an extremely rare site in a lively city with some 16000000 residents and the strict lockdown will remain in place for the entire weekend all shops even supermarkets effect to close only pharmacies and bakeries are allowed to make deliveries the lockdown came into force on friday night just 2 hours after it was announced in many places long queues formed quickly outside shops videos posted online showed scenes of turmoil in some markets panic buying customers crammed into close contact many people clearly angry about being given little or no notice of the shutdown by the government that was also criticism from istanbul's mere molo on twitter he wrote that the measures also took him by surprise. it would have been much better if the government had

coordinated with us or said that this happened the way it did i ask all citizens to please remain calm. turkey is currently seeing a sharp rise in the number of coated 19 infections latest figures show some 4800 new cases daily the hope is that the shutdown will slow it's brilliant. time to take a look now at some more coronavirus news from around the world spain says it is not relaxing restrictions on public life as it continues to fight coke at 19 this comes after the government received heavy criticism for announcing that that thousands of people would be allowed back to work next week the country's health minister said spain was not yet in a deescalation phase and would remain under lockdown. the world health organization has urged to step up measures in its response to the covert 1000 pandemic a spokesperson for the organization and said the country was now recording community

transmission of the virus and said this represented a worrying new phase of the outbreak. authorities in the democratic republic of congo say the 1st person to contract ebola in more than 50 days has died in the east of the country officials were hoping to declare an end to the epidemic on sunday allowing congo's health services to focus on containing covert 19. global health officials are warning about nicaragua's president to danielle ortega is risking an epidemic in central america by refusing to impose measures to slow the spread of the virus neighboring states have closed their borders but are take as government wants nicaraguans to celebrate easter as normal the administration is encouraging people to with attend to sporting and cultural events and even to keep going to the beach. and easter procession like every year in defiance of the global pandemic. that. even the

pope has warned catholics not to celebrate the holidays and groups but nicaragua is one of the few countries in the world without lock down measures to slow the spread of the virus. and i like catholic church cancel the processions and all religious activities but we pilgrims decided to carry on the tradition like we do dear after a year so that it's not last i knew. a few residents of the capital managua wear face masks otherwise public life here continues largely unchanged schools and shops are open the streets thronged with people. critics of the leftist president daniel ortega want to know what his plan is if the outbreak does hit but ortega is nowhere to be seen some speculate as abs. since is due to medical problems leaving the government unable to focus on the pandemic it's enabled because they're.

so obese kristie that they're. here were the 1st money. here really for more. or take his wife says he sends nicaraguans his love but some feel left alone will mean that i'm ok. and we have to look after each other because honestly the captain has left the ship as they say. seeing it can be done about it but. we need a captain. while the number of confirmed cases in nicaragua remains low many here worry it won't stay that way for long. taiwan is one of the few areas of the world where professional sports are resuming amid the coronavirus pandemic its baseball league season began on saturday but with no fans watching there was a different atmosphere robot drummers bumped out a beat at the china trust brothers stadium while cardboard cutouts of fans replace

the real thing as a club tried to give the players at least a small flavor of the match day experience. that's the latest from g.w. news i'm kyra should send more news at the top of the hour for now thanks for watching. it doesn't leave it's not easy to go to another country you know nothing about why i don't do this because we can't stay on venezuela on the subway. carsley global news that matters d.w. may.